Lest his fans are disappointed, the director-turned-actor clarifies that he plans to return behind the camera very soon with his next film Voice From The Sky in September. “Saif Ali Khan and Priyanka Chopra have been finalised in the lead roles. The script has also been finalised,” he adds.

More good news: Akhtar promises to be back with a sequel of his Don remake next year, with Shah Rukh Khan as the hero once again. “The script is ready. Don still excites me, though Deewar, Shakti and Sholay are also my favourites. Don lends itself to all the modernisation,” the director-actor adds.

But currently, histrionics take priority. Apart from Rock On, Akhtar also plays hero in sister Zoya Akhtar’s Luck By Chance, which he also produces, while Anand Surapur’s The Fakir Of Venice, his first film as an actor, is complete. “I was fortunate to have directed the best of actors in the industry. I observed them while they acted and that turned out to be my acting lesson,” he laughs.

Rock On has the four actors playing musicians and friends. “It belongs to the same genre as Dil Chahta Hai but the story and the issues are different. Rock On is about how one pursues one’s hidden dreams after forgetting about them at some point in life,” says Akhtar.

Luck By Chance has Akhtar paired with Konkona Sensharma and is set to roll from this April. “Zoya shelved this film few years back after the lead actor backed out. Then she was supposed to direct Kismet Connection but that too did not materialise because she wasn’t satisfied with the script. Finally, she is back with Luck..,” says Akhtar. The film, set in the Hindi film industry itself, also has Hrithik Roshan, Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia and Isha Sharvani. “It is about how luck plays a crucial role in the success and failure of Hindi films,” says Akhtar.